Introduction: Beats by Olivia and Aidan

A small cup or some sort of container to be the basket (can be bought at Target, Walmart, or any grocery store)

Soldering Iron (only if you have one)

Heat Shrink Tubing (can be bought at Home Depot)

A song that has deep or very high sounds (can be found on Youtube)

Sandpaper (can be bought at Home Depot)

Headband (can be bought at Michaels or Target)

Pantyhose (can be found at Target or any department store)

Wire cutters (can be bought at Home Depot)

How the Speaker Works:

There are three very important components in a speaker. The first is the permanent magnet, the second is the voice coil (temporary magnet) and the third is the diaphragm. The way the speaker creates and amplifies sound is made with these three components. The permanent magnet will not move at all throughout the process, however, the voice coil which is connected to the diaphragm will move and is what vibrates the speaker. The voice coil vibrates because it is a wire connected to a power source of some sort. This power source provides voltage for current to flow through the wire. Anytime current flows through a wire, it will become magnetic. With this information, we know that coiling the wire multiple times will increase the magnetic field of which the wire has. This magnetic field will create an alternating current since the wire is now a temporary magnet because of its magnetism. The alternating current will occur between the temporary magnet and the permanent magnet because the electron flow flips back and forth. This causes the temporary magnet to attract and repel form the permanent magnet, which creates the vibrating motion of which creates the sound and moves air to push the sound out of the diaphragm. The diaphragm helps push the sound in different directions, which ultimately helps sound travel further and better.

Step 1: MAKING THE COIL OF WIRE

Take one strand of your wire and wrap it around the highlighter or whatever material you are using. Wrap it 50 times around the material and tape it so that the wire won't unravel. Your coil of wire should look something like the one in the picture. Sand the ends of the wire about 2 inches.

Step 2: MAGNET POSITIONING & DIAPHRAGM ASSEMBLY

Place one magnet in the middle of the coil of wire and place the second magnet on the inside bottom of the cup so that they attract each other. Tape or hot glue the coil of wire around the magnet in place so that they won't move. Note: when you do this make sure they aren't touching. Reference the picture above.

Step 3: ATATTCHING WIRES

Take the sanded ends of the wire and insert one of them through the small hole of the terminals which is located below the top two pegs and the other through the remaining loop. Twist the wires so they can’t come out, BUT NOT PERMANENTLY. Take one of the wires and wrap it around the peg above it. Reference the picture above. Twist the remaining wires together.

Step 4: COVERING THE BASKET

Take the two baskets that you made in the previous step and take two pantyhose socks and put one over the other so they are a little bit thicker. Pull the doubled up pantyhose over the basket and slip a small rubber band over the pantyhose so it is taught. Cut the extra pantyhose off so that you leave about 1/8 of an inch between the rubber band and the end of the pantyhose so it won't slide out. Take either your fabric or headphone cushions and hot glue it onto the basket so it looks like the picture above.

Step 5: TEST AND COVER HEADPHONES

Test your headphones by plugging in the AUX cord to your phone and play a loud song and if they work continue with the steps below, if they don’t, look at the troubleshooting step. If they do work proceed to the next step.

Take the pantyhose socks and double them up. Slip them over the basket that you previously created. Either clue the socks on or slip a rubber band over the body to keep it taught.

Step 6: FINAL ASSEMBLY

Take the two baskets and attach them to the headband and feed the wire over the top of the headband. Cover the wire with either heat shrink tubing or some other material. Congratulations, your headphones are finished!

Step 7: TROUBLESHOOTING

My headphones won’t emit sound:

Try to have your coil of wire tightly wound and firmly on the basket. Make sure the ends of the wire that are going to the terminals are sanded. Add a few more magnets or a bigger one.

My headphones cut on and off:

Try to keep the wires hanging from the voice coil away from each other Make sure your connections to the terminal are strong

Check to see if the AUX cord is plugged into your audio device completely

My headphones are very quiet:

Redo your coil of wire and add a few more loops of wire. Add another magnet to the top of the cup. Try to change the material of your basket, sometimes the sound escapes and isn’t insulated very well.